By Elias Savada. I’ve known critic-archivist-filmmaker Gerald Peary for at least a dozen years. He sought me out in 2007 to do some copyright research, and I’ve worked for him on numerous projects (For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, Archie’s Betty) ever since, although I’m […]
The Poetry and Politics of Dropping Balls: J-P Valkeapää’s Dogs Don’t Wear Pants
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
May 29, 2020
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. In some of its most famous forays into mainstream cinema, BDSM seems to almost instantly bestow some filmmakers with the belief they have found a one-way ticket straight to Cutting Edge Town. Instantly, with a few consensual slaps and saucily deployed feather dusters, we’re meant to believe […]
Move Over Hallmark, Here Comes The High Note
Elias Savada
May 28, 2020
By Elias Savada. In a pandemic-free world, The High Note would have been playing in movie theaters, maybe to decent business but not stellar success. The coronavirus playbook for every film these days is still questionable as we wait for the “all clear” signal from various authority figures. For now, […]
Wild at Heart: Philip Barantini’s Villain
Thomas Puhr
May 22, 2020
By Thomas Puhr. The latest poster for Philip Barantini’s Villain (2020) smacks of an effort to reach as broad an audience as possible. Adorned by flames and sporting a stylish suit, star Craig Fairbrass grimaces at something, perhaps his next victim, offscreen. “FURY UNLEASHED,” the tagline announces, prepping viewers for […]
The Case of the Poorly Hidden Bunker: Vaughn Stein’s Inheritance
Thomas Puhr
May 22, 2020
By Thomas Puhr. The opening montage of Vaughn Stein’s Inheritance (2020) exposes a fundamental flaw: in a sequence that juxtaposes DA Lauren Monroe (Lily Collins) sparring in court, Congressman William Monroe (Chace Crawford) prepping for an upcoming election, and their father, Archer (Patrick Warburton, squandered in a rare dramatic role), […]
The “Russian Griffith” with Jarring Physicality – The Bolshevik Trilogy: Three Films by Vsevolod Pudovkin (Flicker Alley)
John Duncan Talbird
May 1, 2020
By John Duncan Talbird. Vsevolod Pudovkin entered Moscow University to study physical chemistry at the age of seventeen. His studies were disrupted by the start of World War I where he was soon taken prisoner. Reportedly, he saw D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916) in his late twenties and his passion for […]
Hybridity Challenging “Un-Filmable”: The Story of Temple Drake (Criterion Collection)
Tony Williams
April 18, 2020
By Tony Williams. This adaptation of William Faulkner’s notorious novel Sanctuary (1931) first appeared as a Paramount production in 1933, a year before the imposition of the notorious Hays Code, which it supposedly jump-started. Its celebrity resembled the later infamy associating Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1972) and Pasolini’s Salo […]
All Senses Considered – Contemporary Film Directors: Lucrecia Martel by Gerd Gemünden
Thomas Puhr
March 11, 2020
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. I received Gerd Gemünden’s Contemporary Film Directors: Lucrecia Martel without having seen a single film by the titular artist. To say I’ve been missing out is an understatement. The movies themselves are evidence enough of Martel’s singular vision and its significance to global cinema, […]
An Immersive Observational Doc: Paris is Burning (Criterion Collection)
March 9, 2020
By Gary M. Kramer. Jennie Livingston’s vibrant, groundbreaking 1990 documentary, Paris Is Burning, about the Harlem drag-ball scene, has been digitally remastered and released by Criterion on DVD and Blu-ray. The film, which was part of the New Queer Cinema movement, remains a stunning achievement thirty years after its initial […]
Home Sweet Ho-Hum: José Ramón Larraz’s Deadly Manor (Arrow Video)
Rod Lott
February 26, 2020
By Rod Lott. One month after releasing 1998’s Edge of the Axe on Blu-ray, Arrow Video returns to the José Ramón Larraz well with Deadly Manor, another of the late Spanish director’s three career-twilight reciprocations to the slasher trend. The 1990 film stakes another claim on his CV, being his […]